Bishamon is a character in the Darkstalkers series of fighting games. He is a samurai ghost inhabiting a cursed suit of armor, and hails from Japan. His named is derived from Bishamonten, the Japanese God of War.

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When Bishamon was looking around in an old antique shop, as if drawn by fate, he found a piece of armor and a sword. At this moment, he lost his own thought. When he realized where he was, he was at his house, the armor and sword sitting beside him. When he went back to the store to ask what happened, he found out that he had aggressively forced the owner of the shop to give the armor and sword to him. Bishamon himself had no memory of this. It made no sense to him, but as he stared at the armor, it felt meaningless to him.

At the time, his wife, Orin, worried about Bishamon as he sat in front of the armor for days. She asked him to let go of the armor and sword but, Bishamon heard nothing of it. Two weeks later, he decided to ignore his wife and wear the armor.

The moment he wore the armor, he realized his mistake and with the last of his strength, shouted, "Run...run, Orin!!"

Bishamon's mind was full of hate and accursed power. He had donned Hannya, the armor of hate, and Kien, the blood-sucking sword. He went on countless days of killing, as Hannya demanded more sacrifices.

When Bishamon fought against Pyron, Pyron's energies caused Bishamon to be separated from Hannya's curse. To make up for his sins, he and his wife became priests/monks. The practice he had started was called "Roppoudou". This practice gave its followers a strong mind and would cleanse the mind and spirit its followers. Traveling throughout Japan brought peace to his heart again.

Bishamon Ending

Ending from Darkstalkers 3

Several years later, he had stopped by an old temple. There, he found writings about a separate dimension called "Makai". Within these writings contained drawings depicting the armor, "Hannya", and the sword, "Kien" and other creatures similar to those two in what seemed like hell. Bishamon thought to himself, a careless person like himself may appear again. He thought that he may not be able to make up for his sins, but he may be able to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again. He had already walked the path of darkness; he had nothing to fear.

To make contact with this "Makai", he secluded himself within a deep snowy mountain. He sat down and held the Shakujou and started to meditate. When his spiritual strength had reached its peak, he could see that of a different world with the eyes of his heart. He was determined to seal Hannya away at any cost.

At the same time, Hannya had started to thirst for blood once again. Even without having a master this time, the armor and sword started to move again. They gathered all the spirits around them to create a body and moved out to hunt Darkstalkers and their blood. When Hannya and Kien moved out, they were sucked into the Majigen. But before Hannya could kill, Bishamon had caught up to him and sealed him away. After these events, Bishamon had disappeared and is thought to have led a peaceful life.

Bishamon is one of the few characters in Darkstalkers to wield a weapon. It is likely he was a skilled swordsmen before donning Hannya.

His walking speed is normal but his dash is impressive. Using Kien, he can cut enemies in half easily with his Tsuji Hayate attack. He can also channel ki energy through Kien and expel it for a short distance with his slashes. He can also project ghostly energies for distant attacks and can disorient his opponents with them. He can also summon evil spirts, such as the samurai ghosts in his Tsurane Giri and a ghostly hand with a crushing grasp in Oni Kubi Hineri.

In the PlayStation version of Darkstalkers 3, he has another form, Oboro Bishamon, but it seems to have been purified by Oboro's spirit, which means that the armor has been turned into an all white colored armor. This form also has a different, but more serious victory theme.

The demonic armor Hannya and sword Kien are likely based on Tsukumogami, artifacts and items that have remained intact for 100 years, and have come to life. Depending on what kind of item they are, they can be good natured or outright evil.

The dog that appears in Bishamon's Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors stage is named Tarou. Tarou also appears in the Vampire Savior stage Abaraya. He will appear from under a blanket after the round is won.